This spring the black bamboo
I planted just last fall
launched six new shoots
like baby rockets
heading skyward
now in mid-July
they tower above me
swaying in the breeze
the slender side branches
leafed out as in
a Chinese brush painting
if as I think
it was the Greeks
taught us to see
the human form
the muscles rippling
beneath the skin
the sensuous breasts
and graceful limbs
of Aphrodite
then it's the Chinese love
of the bamboo
its stalks
a paradigm of strenth
in flexibility
of growing like the seasons
node to node
the hollow core
embodying the wisdom
of Buddihst saints
and Daoist sages
love that informs
the Chinese painter's art
from which I too
have learned to find a sort
of sensuous pleasure
in the dark
and swaying branches
rustling leaves